Love over numbers: P.O.W- a hard hitting experiment on TV

The Indian political thriller helmed by Nikkhil Advani and produced by Emmay Productions, POW was a takeoff from the very popular Israeli show Hatufim by Gideon Raff.

Two captive soldiers returning home after 17 years and dealing with the turmoil of life, kept audience hooked. Fans not only connected emotionally but with the entry of the third prisoner of war, the thrill factor kept all on the edge of their seats.

As the series wrapped up a couple of days back, we decided to reach out to people associated with the show and get them talking about the endeavour.

We first spoke to director Nikkhil, who has a filmy background (he has directed Kal Ho Na Ho and D-Day), talk about how P.O.W got conceptualised. “Star had the rights of Hatufim and it approached us for the Hindi adaptation. Things sorted out and soon we were good to go. The Kargil war is still fresh in people’s mind and the animosity between India-Pakistan has been a constant issue. I was coming out of the D-Day emotions and wanted to do something on the same lines so we started working on P.O.W. Yes, it was difficult to set the balls rolling but we chose to only go with the same palette as Hatufim but painted our very own storyline.”

The show might have managed to etch a beautiful picture in viewers mind and receive great acclamation and a huge fan following, it somewhere had to face the brunt of low TRPs.

In an earlier interview with us, Gaurav Banerjee, Head of Content Studio, Star India, commenting on how they deal with low ratings and failures of expensive shows like P.O.W, had said, “We try to learn from them, and not make the same mistakes. It did manage to find a set of fans that was very unique and different and thus I will not consider P.O.W a failure but tout it as an experiment. And that is very important for any business, to challenge the rules. Star Plus is a big brand and if we do not take risks, who would? We have the confidence that we can learn from them.”

The team on their part confessed that they did have inkling that their project might not receive instant numbers, but the love they managed to get, has been overwhelming.

Rasika, who played Shobha said, “I have never been bothered about ratings and box office results. It has never concerned me and I am happy to be devoid of its knowledge. I do not understand the entire mechanism and thus it doesn’t affect me. For me, the sheer joy is doing good work and getting love of my viewers.”

While P.O.W defined the lives of Indian soldiers, the actors who played terrorists, and created havoc in the lead characters’ lives, also managed to grab attention. Be it trolling them over their mean acts or congratulating them on their performance, the love was coming from all quarters.

“I was portrayed as the antagonist and if people hated me, I think that’s the best compliment that I can receive for the show. The response has been magnificent and I am thankful that I was part of this show. Trust me, people showed immense love to me also and kept on telling how I was doing a wonderful job,” said Sahil who played Yussuf in story.

Parul, who enacted the character of Afreen also stated that she was amazed with how much people connected to her character. “I think it was the finest characters that I have got to play in my career. Though I haven’t got a plethora of work behind me, I can confidently say that Afreen will forever stay in my heart. I feel blessed to have received so much love.”

While viewers will miss watching the series, the actors are happy to take a lot back from their respective characters. Manish who dutifully stepped into the shoes of the powerful character of Vikram stated, “P.O.W will always hold special for all of us. As far as I am concerned, I will be taking back Vikram’s patriotism with me. The character was a really challenging one as he was torn between emotions and his love for his country. Thankfully I managed to find my way into the same shoe size and do justice to the role.”

P.O.W not only was game changer on TV but also played an important role in making the actors a household name. Anurag, who started his journey long back in the industry, was lost in the world of showbiz. As he had mentioned us earlier the show proved to help him rise from the dead as a phoenix.

When we asked him to choose one special moment from the series, Anurag quipped, “There are many such moments that I will forever cherish, I am an actor who lives every moment. That’s how I work. Every shot that I give is an important moment of my life and I live it completely. It would thus be unfair to choose one as each of them is very special to me.”

With the drama wrapping up and the team moving ahead in their individual journey, Purab aka Sarrtaj while reminiscing his lovely journey spoke about his bond with the cast. “Amrita and I have become great friends after the shoot and we now party together. I have known Sandhya for a long time and it is always a pleasure to work with her. Sattu (Satyadeep) and I have started hanging out together and he is a fun person. As for Manish, I love him. We have developed a strange bond wherein would just start laughing seeing each other. It really got difficult for us to shoot (laughs). As for the other actors, I did not spend too much time with them, but yes, I can confidently state that everyone on P.O.W has found a friendship that will last forever,” smiled the dashing actor.

The storyline also found amazing support in its original soundtrack. With seven melodious songs bringing alive the emotions, viewers were left spell bounded. Getting the opportunity to speak to the music composer Arjunna Harjaie we asked him about his experience. He shared, “I feel extremely fortunate that such a big opportunity came to me. It was a treat to work with Nikkhil sir. Like AR Rahman and Mani Ratnam came together to create magic, I think my collaboration with Nikkhil sir is something on the same lines. Also Kumar sir, who has added words to my melodies, will always remain special to me.”